Staines West to West Drayton
- GWR West London Branch line

In what is now a heavily
populated West London
there used to be four branch lines operated by the Great Western Railway.
One survives in full but the others have been closed, and by and large
ripped up and demolished.

Gone are the lines
connecting Brentford Docks to Southall, West Drayton to Uxbridge Vine
Street and the subject of this article the Staines to West Drayton line.
Hang on though, surely Staines still has a station? Yes it does but it
used to have two....

Both the GWR and the Southern
Railway had quite separate stations in Staines at one time. Oddly enough
the simple distinction between the two was only made very late in the day
in 1949 when the GWR's one was renamed from simply Staines to Staines West prior to its
closure.

The line originally opened
on the 9th August 1884 when the first passenger trains only traveled from
West Drayton to Colnbrook. The connection to Staines opened a year later
on the 2nd November 1885 with the tiny Poyle Estate Halt (the platform was
only one coach length), Stanwell Moor and Yeoveny sitting inbetween. Yeoveney
itself was tiny - the platform was only 20 feet long!

During the Second World War
a connecting spur was installed which meant the ex GWR lines could link up
with the Staines to Windsor line but this was subsequently removed in
1959.

The six and half miles of
line finally closed to passengers on the 29th March 1965 but some of it is still
in use to freight services today and in many places track and a few
buildings remain.

Staines
West station was originally a private residence that was converted into a
station. After closure it remained semi derelict for 11 years before being
redeveloped into office space.

Around the back of the
building are clues to its past. Lamps that once lined the platform are now
in the car park whilst a set of buffers and a short piece of track hint at
its previous use.

Heading out of Staines much
of the track remains in place slowly rotting and rusting away. This is the
point where it runs alongside the line to Windsor and Eton before
branching off.

There are still a few
trackside elements in place such as this old ground signal.

The track still remains in places north of
Staines.

Heavily overgrown its now only really accessible when the
vegetation dies down in Winter.

If you look hard enough you can still see
clues that the line used to be operated by the GWR.

Elsewhere other structures carrying the
railway survive.

Heading North here are still railway
structures present such as this railway bridge on Stanwell Moor. All
traces of the railway disappear for a while shortly after here as they were removed to
make way for the M25

It reappears around Colnbrook where the
Station Masters House marks the new end of the line. At this point the
railway used to run directly across the road, hence the level crossing
markers oddly still in place.

The line used to be a double here but one
set of tracks have been removed on the right.

The line is now used just for freight and
services industry in the Coln Brook area such as London Concrete.

Looking up the line from the Colnbrook
Bypass it's a bit of a stretch to imagine steam hauled passenger services
using this route.

Diesel engine waiting in the sidings by
London Concrete

West Drayton - where the line joins the main line route
into London Paddington